


The Details of the Past

by thatdamhufflepuff (orphan_account)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Crossover, F/F, Keith is Zuko, Lance is Sokka, Langst, M/M, allura is suki, also allura is also a lesbian, basically team voltron was the gaang in their past life, coran is iroh, hunk is aang, past lives au, pidge is a lesbian, pidge is toph, shiro and katara are the parent friend, shiro is katara, so is toph
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-03-05 01:27:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13377219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/thatdamhufflepuff
Summary: He was healthy. That he was sure of. Whatever they had injected into his neck didn’t work, and Lance was fine. He was fine.Or so he thought, until nightmares about people he doesn’t know but somehow feel familiar start to haunt him.





	1. The One Where A Myserious Substance Is Injected Into Lance

“Be careful, Lance.”

“I’m always careful.” Lance looked over his shoulder before kicking down the door with a thud. “I’m at the room, what do I do now?”

“Remember the USB Pidge gave you earlier? All you have to do is connect it to the system and wait for it to finish downloading.”

Lance nodded and walked over to the largest screen in the middle of the room and looked for a port to plug the USB into. The screen went black, with a small downloading bar appearing on the screen. 

Earlier today the paladins had been called to the control room for a quick briefing about a simple mission they needed to go on. A galra commanded trading port apparently had valuable information that could give Voltron the upper hand in ending the war. Positions were handed out with ease, and Lance was told he would be going alone to collect the information while the others secured the entrances.

“Alright, it’s connected. I’m waiting for it to download.” 

He waited, and after nearly ten minutes everything finished downloading into the USB. Lance pocketed the small piece of metal before exiting the room, looking down both ends of the hallway.

“Where do I go? It finished downloaded.”

“Make a left, Hunk is at the very end of the hallway waiting for you.”

Lance took a running start in the direction. His footsteps were light on the floor, and his strides were long. He looked behind him every few seconds to make sure.

Hunk came into his line of vision, a mere dot in yellow. Lance opened his mouth to say something—

BAM!

A body mass slammed Lance from his right, making him go sprawling in the other direction and effectively knocking the wind out of him. A galra commander held their hand over Lance’s mouth while dragging him behind a wall, out of Hunk’s eyesight. 

Lance bit down, hard, on the hand covering his mouth.

Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to do, as it made the galra angry. A fist hit his jaw hard enough to leave a bruise for the next few days or so. 

A second set of hands grabbed the back of his collar, and something sharp and thin pricked his neck. 

Suddenly Lance’s eyes started to get heavy until he slipped into unconsciousness.

“Lance, are you there?”

. . .

“Hunk, go find Lance, we’re on our way now.”


	2. The One Where Lance Has A Funny Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after the mission, Lance wakes up from a healing pod. Everything seems to be fine, but later that night he has a strange dream.

When Lance awoke, he felt a wave of déjà vu as he fell from the healing pod, surrounded by the team. 

“Why was I…” Lance rubbed his eyes in attempt to get rid of the exhaustion.

“We found you unconscious on the floor after you didn’t answer you helmet. Any clue of what happened?” 

Shiro grabbed Lance’s hand to steady him and helped him sit down on a chair nearby.

Lance closed his eyes, trying to think back to what happened. Images flooded his mind. “I saw Hunk, and I was making him my way to him when I got body slammed. They covered my mouth, and I felt a needle prick my neck. Then everything went black.”

Lance opened his eyes to the concerned states of his teammates. 

“Hmm, well nothing showed up on the scans I ran when you were in the healing pod. It must’ve been just anesthetic, but we’ll make sure to keep an eye for any symptoms the next few days.” Coran reviewed the scans as he pressed a few buttons on a screen. “As for now, I officially declare you healthy.”

Lance nodded and stood to rise, and everyone tended to catch him in case he fell. Luckily, he did not, and everyone relaxed. Lance let out his breath.

The rest of the day flew by. Hunk had been adamant about spending time with his best friend after being worried sick over him and thinking how he may have died for the second time while they’re in space. Pidge joined them, for the same reason, though she was a bit more hesitant to say so. 

The three of them spent the day watching movies Pidge had managed to stream from Earth radio channels despite the distance. Keith stood in the door for half of the first movie, not saying anything but simply watching them.

“Keith, for god’s sake, if you want to watch High School Musical with us, take a goddamn seat and enjoy yourself.” Lance startled the other boy, and Keith was frozen for a few seconds until he walked over and took a seat next to Lance in the couch, trying to distance himself as much as possible. 

For the rest of the day, Shiro, Coran, and Allura popped in every few minutes to watch a few scenes and see how the others were doing. Despite everyone trying to get them to stay for a while, all three claimed they were busy and didn’t have time.

Overall, Lance would say this was a good day (save for the fact that he started the in a healing pod). 

“You know what we should do?” Lance looked up from the screen to Hunk, who looked at the others. “We should have a sleepover, right here.”

Pidge shot up in excitement, before sitting back down.

“Great idea, let’s all grab our mattresses and covers from our rooms and drag them here. Meet back in ten.” Lance said, barely finishing his sentence before everyone scrambled off the grab their belongings.

Sometimes when he entered his room, Lance felt a wave of sadness. The walls were bare and cold, and nothing screamed that somebody was living in here. It looked like a blank hotel room ready to be bought, not like a home. It made miss his own bedroom at home, where his walls had an ocean his sister painted for him, and pictures covering the blank parts. Where his bed remained messy all day with his dark space theme sheets hanging of the bed, and the collection of children’s books he kept on his night stand for when his nieces and nephews came over. Here, this room didn’t contain any memories for him to reminisce about. 

Lance shook his head clear of his thoughts and grabbed him mattress and sheets off of the bed frame built into the wall, and started dragging them down the hallway. By the time he got back to the room, the others were there already setting up their sleeping positions for the night. Keith had dragged his mattress to the corner alone.

Lance placed his own mattress next to Hunk where Pidge was already on Hunk’s other side. He looked to Keith before forcing the boy to put his mattress next to him, so he was closer to the group. 

“See? Now you don’t have to sulk in the corner.”

“I don’t sulk!” Keith huffed.

“Yeah, you do.” 

“Bro, you have to admit that you do kind of sulk.” Pidge piped in, adjusting her glasses.

“I do not! Hunk, tell them I don’t sulk.”

Hunk looked back and forward between everyone. “Sorry Keith, but you totally sulk!”

Keith crossed his arms as everyone else laughed, eventually joining in with his own smirk. 

“Alright, fine, maybe I sulk a little bit.”

The group talked for a little while more, mostly about trivial things to distract themselves from the larger pictures at hand, before everyone agreed to call lights out.

Lance let his head hit his pillow and closed his eyes as he drifted off into sleep.

Water. He was drowning, no, he was swimming, somewhere— a lake. He was swimming in a lake. A splash startles him from his right, and there appears a girl with tan skin and long, dark brown hair with a smile on her face.

“Having fun there, Sokka?”

Who’s Sokka? He looks down towards the water, water so clear it reminded him distinctly of the oceans back home, and a different reflection stares back at him. He looks different. He has a ponytail— why does he have a ponytail?— but he still has his warm skin and blue eyes. Maybe he had a renovation in this dream.

“Uh, yeah, totally.” He decided to reply, because he was taking too long and the girl seemed to be getting worried. 

Suddenly a larger splash nearly drowned him from behind, and a small girl with cloudy eyes and a mess of black hair floated. A boy— why didn’t he have any hair, and why was there a tattoo on his head?— appeared next to her, laughing and splashing some more water. 

Who were these people? He wanted to leave this dream, but this felt comfortable. This felt familiar. And for some reason unbeknownst to him, he felt love for these people. 

Suddenly the dream changed. He was now walking with two people behind him. One was a girl, with a short bob cut and a natural edge to her. She looked at peace for the moment. The other was a boy, with a head full of dark hair and a scar that covered up a large portion of his face. He seemed more tense than the other girl.

He heart made a lurching motion as he glanced at the two, and he knew that he didn’t feel the same love for these people as he did for the others. Yet, he felt a slight different in him emotions for the two people. The girl, his love for her felt old and forgotten— no, not forgotten but outgrown. For the boy, that love still felt passionate. His heart throbbed looking at this boy who he had no clue was.

He turned back around to see where they were walking to, but his vision got blurry the farther out he looked. 

He didn’t know why he was seeing this, there were no actions or dialogue as the previous scene, but nonetheless he was living a strangers memory.

He turned around again, to face the boy. As he stared at the boy’s face, he began to wake up.

Half asleep, Lance woke to seeing Keith’s face, and he could’ve sworn it was the boy from his dream instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the first chapter wasn’t a full chapter, I updated today to get the story rolling. Most updates won’t be as sudden as this. I’ll try to go for once a week or every two weeks update wise. Anyway, I hope you guys like it.


	3. The One Where Keith Cuddles in His Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance awakes to Keith cuddling his side, and begs Pidge not to take a picture. Later in the day, Lance starts to remember things he shouldn’t.

When Lance fully awoke, he couldn’t help but remember his dream. Who were those people. He was sure he had never met them in his lifetime, but yet he felt such a strong emotion towards all of them, some of them more than others, so much that it startled him at first. How could he feel so strongly about people he didn’t know?  
Maybe it was just his imagination. Lance had always been a child with a far too active imagination. 

Lance stayed still, not wanting to wake any of the others. However, something large and warm near his side brought his attention to Keith, who was currently snuggling Lance.

Oh god, what should he do?

He didn’t want to wake him, Lance knew as much as anyone else that Keith barely got enough sleep as he should what with being in the training room all hours of the night. Waking him would be unfair and cruel to the poor sleep deprived boy. It was probably better if Lance just let him stay put.

Keith pulled Lance closer subconsciously, and made a small sigh in his sleep. 

A small chuckling noise from his right caught his attention. Pidge was sitting up, a hand silencing her laugh as she held up a small camera.

“Pidge, don’t you dare—”

Click. The camera’s flash went off and the picture was taken.

“Oh my god, Pidge, please tell me you’ll delete that.”

Another wave of laughter seized through Pidge, and she tried to smother herself with her own hand.

Hunk slowly sat up, clearly awoken by all the noise, and rubbed his own eyes while slowly taking in his surroundings. He laid his eyes on Lance and Keith, and slowly but surely he too started to laugh. “Pidge, please tell me you got a picture of that.”

“Of course.”

“Good.”

The two of them started to laugh again, and even Lance started to crack up despite his rosy red cheeks and the embarrassment in his veins.

“Alright, I still don’t want to wake him up, let’s try not to be so loud.”

Despite Lance’s words, Keith’s eyes opened. He looked around the room, and his eyes landed on Lance, and the closeness of the two of them.

Keith quickly scattered back, his cheeks flushed even darker than Lance’s. “What the fuck?”

Lance laughed again, finally stretching and cracking his back now that he didn’t have to worry about waking Keith up.

“Seems to me like you’re a cuddler.” Pidge help up the photo she had just taken. “Don’t worry, I downloaded the image so if you try to destroy it I can just print a new one.”

Keith looked down. “Whatever, I’m going to take my stuff back.”

Hunk and Pidge quieted down as they watched Keith walk away.

“Alright, maybe we should all take our stuff back. Breakfast will probably be starting soon anyway.”

Lance nodded and grabbed his own mattress and covers and started dragging them back to his room. The sight of the bare metal walls brought him back to his thoughts yesterday, and he didn’t know if he felt the exact same anymore. Sure, his room didn’t scream home, but he had made a family here anyway. Besides, it was still just a bedroom, a place for him to sleep.

After putting his mattress back in place and doing the bed (a habit done every morning after getting yelled at far too many times by his mom) he left to go eat breakfast. He arrived to the kitchen where Hunk was attempting to prepare a decent breakfast from the bare minimum amount of ingredients they had. By the time he got there he had forgotten about his dream.

Lance sat down at the table where the rest of the crew were already sitting. Hunk walked in, holding a large platter of food.

“Voila! I present to you, the space version of waffles and chicken.” 

Hunk set the platter down at the middle of the table and took the seat next to Lance. Lance reached over and placed a waffle and chicken strip on his plate. Neither looked quite like what they’re supposed to look like, and he wasn’t sure which was supposed to be the chicken and which was supposed to be the waffle.

Lance bit down, and sure enough the food did taste like waffles and chicken. Honestly, he had no idea how Hunk did it.

“So, anything weird happen yet Lance?”

Lance looked up at Shiro, a confused expression written of his face.

“I mean, did any symptoms start to appear? Anything out of the ordinary happen?” 

Lance recalled his dream in quick, vivid images. The girl splashing water on him, the boy with the arrow on his head, the girl with cloudy eyes, the tough looking girl, and last but not least the boy with fire in his eyes. They all flashed through his mind in a split second, and in that moment Lance felt every emotion he had felt during his dream.

“Lance?” Shiro called his name again, snapping his fingers in front of his face.

“Huh?” Lance looked up, and cleared his thoughts. “Yeah no, nothing happened.”

Shiro looked skeptical. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

~

The rest of Lance’s day went by with ease. Shiro seemed to still have the idea that Lance was still hurt, so he made him go easy during training, despite Lance’s protests. He ended up spending most of the day helping Coran tidy up around the ship since, for some reason, despite their time in space so far, some of the castle still remained unused. He enjoyed spending the day exploring the more forgotten parts of the ship.

When Lance went to bed that night, he had the same dream again. 

There were a few differences that from last night. This time he could see the scenery surrounding, and it wasn’t as blurry as before.

The water was clearer, and he could feel the sand scraping his toes at the bottom of the lake. Why couldn’t he feel that yesterday?

The girl showed up— Katara. Wait. Who?

Why did he know that name?

The girl from yesterday, Katara, as his brain oh-so helpfully provided, seemed clearer. He could see the small hairs fraying from the two braids growing from the front and connecting in the back. He could see the pores on her skin and the redness on the top of her nose. 

He could see her. Why couldn’t he see her yesterday? Why was he only seeing her now?  
His mind went through the dream again: water in lake— splash— Katara— splash— cloudy eyed girl— boy with arrow tattoo— scene change— girl with bob cut— boy with scar. End scene. 

Why did he see so much more detail tonight? Why could he see every wrinkle in the boy’s scar tissue? Why could he see the fire in his eyes twinkling in the sunlight?

Who even were these people?

Despite the increase in details, his brain didn’t want to oh-so-helpfully supply anyone else’s names. Apparently they weren’t as important in his life as the girl, Katara.

No, that didn’t feel right. He felt as much emotion for that girl as he did for the others— especially the boy at the end of his dream. 

Why did he keep having dreams about people he did know? He had once read somewhere that you can only dream about people you know, and do so because you’re subconsciously thinking of them.  
How could be subconsciously thinking of people he’s never met?

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice told him that he’s met these people before, a long time ago.


	4. The One Where They Play Dress Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura informs everyone that they’ll be heading to the planet of Proqror, an extremely formal planet. She shows them the royal closet and let’s them find a new set of clothes for the party.

Previously:  
_Why did he keep having dreams about people he did know? He had once read somewhere that you can only dream about people you know, and do so because you’re subconsciously thinking of them._

__

How could be subconsciously thinking of people he’s never met?

__

_Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice told him that he’s met these people before, a long time ago._

 

“Paladins, please report to the control room. We have something important to share with you all.”

Lance mumbled incoherently to himself as he slowly rose from his bed, hesitating to leave the nest of warmth. If it wasn’t a life or death emergency, couldn’t they wait until it wasn’t so early in the morning? 

Walking over to the sink, Lance cupped his hands under the faucet as water pooled in them, and splashed it onto his face.

Water— lake. Katara, splashing— remember.

Lance stood frozen in shock, as a few seconds worth of images flashed through his mind.

“Can all paladins please report to the control center, now.”

Lance shook his head clear and left his room, tugging on his hoodie strings. The walk to the control room was peaceful enough, but as soon as he entered he noticed everyone looking irritable enough.

“Did you enjoy your beauty sleep, Loverboy Lance?” Pidge mocked as she sat on something that she probably shouldn’t be sitting on.

“I did, thanks for asking. Why were we called here again?”

Allura sighed and pointed to the screen. “As I was saying, we’ve came in contact with another planet. They’ve requested to join the Voltron coalition, so we’ve made plans to head there immediately. We should arrive by mid day, however I need to warn you all that these people are known for formality. You’ll need to wear your best clothes.”

Pidge cleared her throat. “We only have the pair of clothes we came here with. We wear the same thing everyday, how did you not notice that already?”

Allura looked confused. “I thought you had multiple pairs of the same outfit— that’s what Alteans do, save for a few other outfits for formal wear and other scenarios.”

Lance looked at Allura in shock. 

“You… wear the same outfit every day, just different clothes?”

Allura nodded, and Coran agreed from behind her.

Lance started to crack up. Pidge joined him, and Hunk tried to stifle his snorts. 

“The.. same outfit… your whole life.” Lance said between breaths. “What, are you a cartoon character?”

Allura tilted her head in confusion. “I don’t know what that is. No matter, back to our original topic. Later we’ll work on getting you some copies of the clothes you have on. For now, since you don’t have formal wear, I’m sure we have some you can wear. Coran, care to show them to the royal closet.”

~

The royal closet was, to say the least, extravagant. There were dozens of outfits and suits and strange combinations of the two in every color variation you could think of hanging on dozens of mannequins spaced out around the closet. Lance felt his jaw drop as he entered the room.

“Holy shit…” Pidge immediately started touching the mannequin closest to her. 

“Language.” Shiro gave her a pointed look.

“This is the royal closet.” Coran gestured around the room. “I’m sorry it’s so limited, it has clearly not been restocked in a while.”

“Coran, it’s amazing— better than anything any of us would own on earth.” Lance slapped an arm around Coran’s shoulder before wandering off.

-

It took a few minutes of shuffling between a few different outfits, but it seems everyone settled on the one they wanted to wear. They all exited the dressing rooms, all of them wearing their final choices.

Pidge wore a light green dress that was higher in the front and lower in the back with a few gold embellishments here and there. She wore a pair of short heels, only an inch or two, and wobbled around in them. She showed everyone how the heels can retract into sneakers by pressing a button on the side. 

Hunk wore a gold dress shirt with black slacks and a bow tie. He also had a small cape hanging from his neck, reaching to his mid back. Hunk looked like a literal ray of sunshine.

Shiro wore a black shirt with similar gold embellishments to Pidge’s. He had black slacks that were tucked into a pair of what looked to be dress shoes, with the front pointed. 

Keith had a red dress shirt on that he rolled up to his forearm, revealing a pair of white gloves similar to Coran’s. It was refreshing to seek him without his biker gloves for once. He had tight, black plants that seemed to be made out of space leather. 

Lance himself wore a blue dress shirt with a black vest. His pants were also black, not as tight as Keith’s but not as loose as Shiro’s. He also had a cape he had found, his a little longer than Hunk’s.

“Oh, yea, cape buddies!” Lance high fived Hunk enthusiastically.

“Ah, you all look lovely! We should be approaching Proqror any moment now, so let’s all head down to the command room to find Allura!”

They agreed and followed Coran down. Allura was in the middle of the room, waiting for them. She had on a dress that started as pink but turned into blue by the time it reached her ankles. The dress had a princess cut, but she had a small cape covering her shoulders.

“Well, you lot took long enough. We’re going to land any second now.”

A loud crash told them that they had already landed.

“Perfect. Well, let’s see what our allies have to say, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m so sorry it took me four months to update with this shitty chapter. i literally have no excuse, just know i will finish this fic even if it takes me forever. good news, i’m learning html in school so i finally know how to italicize stuff.  
> follow me on tumblr, thatonewhereshetries is my main and cringem is my art account.


	5. The One Where They Dance

The party that the Proqror held distracted Lance from what had been occupying his mind as of lately. Cute aliens, drinks, and music, it had all the elements of a good time.

Now if only Lance could enjoy himself.

He tried. Really, he did. He tried taking a sip of the space alcohol (much to the horror of Shiro who took the cup out of Lance’s hand right away) and tried dancing with a cute Proqrorian who offered her hand to him. At least he had been distracted when he was looking for his outfit to wear tonight. But now? The music lulled him into his thoughts.

He had to figure out his dream. It was going to drive him insane if he didn’t. 

Maybe he was putting too much thought into it. But maybe he wasn’t.

“Lance?” Keith tapped his shoulder. For a second Lance swore Keith had a scar covering his left eye. 

Lance spun around, taking his hands off the alien he had been dancing and gave them a quick goodbye before turning back to Keith.

“What’s up?” 

“The treaty is about to happen, let’s go.” Keith nodded his head in the general direction they were supposed to be before leading the way.

They got there just in time. Sitting on one of the table was Proqror’s king with a few important looking officials beside him, and on the other end we’re the paladins.

“We may now begin,” Allura cleared her throat, motioning Keith and Lance to sit down. 

“To start, we’d like to join the Voltron coalition. For your protecting against the Galra, we offer our talent in potion making.”

“Potion making?” 

“Yes. We are skilled in making different concoctions for various reasons, many of them prove to be very powerful. Our most popular is our transformation liquid that allows the drinker to change into whatever form their mind conjures. Of course, we have others.”

“That’s… incredible.”

“Thank you. We offer to make whatever potion your require in exchange for protection. Deal, or not?”

“Deal.” Allura nodded to the king. He nodded back, and the deal was made.

“Before you leave,” the king motioned a servant carrying a handful of scrolls forward, “We leave you with a list of known potions available. The scroll automatically updates when we discover something new.”

“Thank you, we appreciate your help.” Allura took the scrolls and passed one to each paladin. 

-

The paladins went back to the party shortly after, each folding their scroll into a pocket. 

Lance stood off to the side of the dancefloor alone. Everyone else was off doing something.

“Lonely?” Keith asked from behind. Lance jumped slightly, but tried to play it off. 

“Nope, not at all.” Lance paused. “Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“Oh.” Lance looked out at all the couples swinging to the upbeat song. The rhythm has much more irregular than anything on Earth, and the way the proqrorians danced had no pattern. Still, it looked fun

Lance turned to Keith, extending a hand. “Dance with me?”

Keith turned bright red. “What?”

“Come on, everyone else is. It won’t hurt to have fun for once, let’s go.” 

Lance dragged Keith to the dancefloor with him, and started leading Keith in the bachata. 

“May not match the music, but it’s the easiest thing I can teach you. Ready? Follow me. Step, step, hip, other way, step, step, hip, repeat. Got it?”

Keith nodded, and they took off. At first, he stumbled and they had to take it slow. But as time wore on, Keith got the hang of it and soon they were able to do a faster pace. 

“Where did you learn to dance?” Keith asked, looking down at his feet. 

“My family. We lived in Cuba up until I was nine, and moved to Miami afterwards, so we always had music dancing and hips swaying. We all learn how to dance at a young age.”

“That’s cool.”

“You know, you’re not so bad at this. Maybe we can call this our second bonding moment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i suck at updates i’m so sorry but today was my last day of school so hopefully i can write more. anyway if y’all wanna message me or become my friend in tumblr, i’m thatonewhereshetries


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